There are disclosed methods, for example as in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 11-157951, for joining sintered aluminum nitride bodies together, through a joining layer, by heating the aluminum nitride bodies at 1,800° C. to 2,000° C. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-114355 discloses a heating apparatus using the sintered aluminum nitride bodies.
Joined assemblies, in which ceramic bodies are brazed together with other metallic bodies, have also been known. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-219578 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-121083 disclose a joined assembly 80 as shown in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, wherein a plate-shaped ceramic body of sintered aluminum nitride 83 and a hollow metal cylinder 91 are joined together. In the joined assembly 80 shown in FIG. 13, there is disposed a ceramic sling 93, which is made of ceramics similar to the plate-shaped ceramic body 83, on the flange of the hollow metal cylinder 91 to relax the thermal stress and improve the durability of the joined assembly 80.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-25913 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-32239 disclose a structure, wherein a plate shaped ceramic body is joined together with a metallic, or a metal/ceramic composite material.
In the joined assembly 80 shown in FIG. 11, which is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-44345, a plate-shaped ceramic body 83 is joined to a ring-shaped member 89 through the metallic spacer 70.
The joined assemblies shown in FIG. 11, FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 are related to wafer holding assemblies for vacuum chucking and/or heating of wafers in semiconductor manufacturing processes.